We are moving into an age of renting from one of buying - if the Centre for Future Studies is right. Within a few years, it will be far more acceptable to rent anything from property and cars to electrical equipment and computer software.

You may find this difficult to believe. 'About 99 per cent of people prefer to own their own homes than to rent,' says David Brett of estate agent David Andrew in North London. 'I don't think that is going to change.'

'But,' says Frank Shaw, director of the Centre for Future Studies, 'the issue hinges on sustainability. If we were renting more, we would be consuming less.' The centre is embarking on a research project along these lines next month, which it plans to publish in the autumn.

Transport 2000 agrees that the sustainability angle is a major one. If we carry on with our growing car ownership trends - reaching 29 million cars in 2003, an increase of nearly 2 per cent in just one year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders - we will have to concrete over more and more space just to provide parking, and we will increasingly distort the development of new housing estates, putting them further from each other to provide parking space.

'It'll never be possible to provide enough car parking space for everyone,' says Stephen Joseph of Transport 2000. So that organisation, along with the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, Transport for London and others is trying to develop alternatives to car ownership.

Transport for London has helped fund some car-sharing projects, speaks regularly to the boroughs and property developers about keeping parking space down to encourage use of public transport, and routinely helps schools set up car-sharing schemes.

The idea of car-sharing has been around for a while but has come up against the British reluctance to share or to rent. As Cash reported recently, there are now 25 car-sharing clubs in Britain where members book a car over the phone or internet, pick it up in a parking bay and pay on the basis of time taken and mileage.

Such arrangements have a dramatic effect on car usage - the Swiss government found it falling by as much as 72 per cent for many individuals.

In days gone by, far more of us used to hire home equipment, from TVs and telephone sets to washing machines. But 'there have been some marked declines in rentals', says Steve Gotham of Verdict Research, citing the disappearance from the High Street of Radio Rentals as an example. 'There have been such strong levels of deflation in electrical goods that the need for rentals is reduced.'

Similarly, many of us prefer the convenience of buying a DVD or video, even though we will probably watch it only once, rather than renting it overnight.

As the sustainability agenda comes to the fore, however, we will find it more difficult to dispose of some of these items and will be given greater encouragement to recycle.

It is the ease of purchase - encouraged by low interest rates and the availability of mortgage and credit finance - which has made buying convenient as well as attractive. 'We are obsessed with getting people on to the property ladder,' says Richard Donnell of estate agent FPDSavills. But, as we all know, ease of home-buying is one trend that has turned. 'Going forward, entry costs for the housing market are going to be high,' adds Donnell. 'Renting is going to have to become more of a realistic option for people.'

Culturally, we have not liked the idea of renting homes - in the way that the French or the North Americans do. Part of this has to do with an absence of good-quality private rental stock. Many buy-to-let investors have gone in for flats, and there is a shortage of family home rentals.

The Government, however, is eager to expand the private letting sector - and is introducing new property investment trusts for this reason. Increasing this market - now estimated at about 11 per cent of total housing stock - would take some price pressures out of the buying market and make life easier for people who need to move.

'The housing market volatility is partly the result of having a small private rented sector,' says Donnell. 'If you want to move jobs, it is quite difficult to find somewhere to live. The whole flexibility of living issue is affected by the type and stock of what is available on the market.'

At the Centre for Future Studies, there is a feeling that the younger generations have different attitudes to ownership. 'Your value, traditionally, has been measured by what you own,' says Shaw. 'But younger generations do not measure people's value on the strength of their possessions.'

The convenience of renting rather than buying may also attract them: 'As soon as you own something, you have responsibility for it and it becomes a commitment.'

But, even now, renting is not spurned by all of British society. Farmers have rented their combine harvesters and other large pieces of equipment for decades. And - for tax reasons - banks are big owners and lessors of aircraft and many other assets. When the government becomes genuinely committed to the notion of sustainable living, it could fairly easily encourage us to change by introducing new taxes and levies. 'That's probably quite a good idea,' says accountant Richard Murphy.

If change comes, it could happen quickly - particularly if the English start seeing the advantages of renting a temporary castle rather than owning one forever.

Hire thoughts

Motorists have little idea of the true cost of owning and running a car, according to research by the RAC. The motoring organisation calculates it to be, on average , £438 a month, which includes purchase, depreciation, insurance, fuel, servicing, VAT and breakdown cover.

But they do have a choice: as well as car club schemes, they have easy access to rental fleets if they only need a vehicle occasionally. Rental firm Thrifty says that it would charge an average, across all branches, of £23 a day for a 1.6-litre car. Rental for a month would cost an average of £520, while three months would cost £495 a month, and six months £475.

I pay £500 a month rent - but it would cost £1,500 a month to buy

You would expect a surveyor and former estate agent-cum-builder to buy his own home. But 36-year-old José Lopez has found it is much cheaper for him and his son Ashley, 16, to rent. The pair, pictured, share a two-bedroom house in Brighton, paying £700 a month rent. José estimates the property is worth £250,000 and would require monthly mortgage repayments of £1,519.

However, the decision to rent was forced on him rather than chosen. 'I started renting in Brighton when I was a student here, and when I started work my salary wasn't enough to buy a £40,000- £50,000 flat. To buy our house now, I would need to be earning £70,000 - and I can assure you most surveyors don't.'

Although his salary has increased over the years, property prices have spiralled further out of reach - according to the Halifax, the average house price in Brighton has soared by 239 per cent in the last 10 years alone.

Although it works budget-wise for José to rent now, the prospect of paying rent indefinitely is not appealing: 'I am concerned about what lies in the future.'